Hopelessness is the mother of Originality

I quote the poet Kris Kristofferson: "Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose." There find encapsulated the benefit to a gifted person of being culled. Having nothing left to lose frees people to think their own thoughts, since there is no longer anything to be gained by echoing the thoughts of those around them. Hopelessness is the mother of Originality.

And the three lovely daughters of Originality in turn, the granddaughters of Hopelessness, as this volume demonstrates, are Hope, the Gratitude of Others, and Unshakable Self-respect.

--Kurt Vonnegut, "Appendix: Unpublished Essay by Me, Written After Reading Galleys of an Anthology of First-rate Poems and Short Prose Pieces by Persons Who Were or Are in Institutions for the Mentally Ill," Fates Worse Than Death (1990)